1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a coupling structure which is utilized for coupling a pair of connectors with each other.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there has been proposed a connector housing 90 having a low insertion force as shown in FIG. 22. This connector housing 90 having a low insertion force consists of a first connector housing 91, a second connector housing 92 having a hood 93 for receiving the first connector housing 91, a holder 94 in a shape of a hollow pillar, and two sliders 95, 95 which are movably inserted into the holder 94.
The first connector housing 91 is provided with driven bosses 91a in its upper and lower parts. The hood 93 is provided with boss grooves 93a in its upper and lower parts respectively. Each of the sliders 95 is provided on its one face with a driving boss 95a which moves in the boss groove 93a, and on the other face thereof is formed a cam groove 95b for guiding the driven boss 91a. The holder 94 is provided with introducing grooves 94a for guiding the driving bosses 95a in its upper and lower parts.
The sliders 95 are mounted on the hood 93 laterally movably, and the driving bosses 95a of the sliders 95 are projected from the boss grooves 93a. The hood 93 is inserted into one side of the holder 94 while the driving bosses 95a are introduced into the guide grooves 94a. The driven bosses 91a are introduced into the cam grooves 95b of the sliders 95 while the first connector housing 91 is inserted into the other side of the holder 94.
As shown in FIG. 23, by pushing the second connector housing 92 into the first connector housing 91, the driving bosses 95a are introduced into the guide grooves 94a and the boss grooves 93a. As the sliders 95 move following the motion, the driven bosses 91a are inserted into the cam grooves 93a. By pushing the second connector housing 92 into the holder 94 until the driving bosses 95a arrive at end edges of the guide grooves 94a in this way, the first and the second connector housings 91 and 92 are fitted to each other with a low insertion force.
However, in such a conventional structure, the holder 94 and the two sliders 95, 95 have been necessary in order to connect the first and the second connector housings 91 and 92. Therefore, it has been a problem that components are increased in number incurring an increase of production cost. Further, there has been required a stroke for moving the sliders 95 (moving distance) within the holder 94, and it has been another problem that the first and the second connector housings 91, 92 will become large-sized.
Still further, since the driving bosses 95a of the sliders 95 slide in the boss grooves 93a of the hood 93, and the driven bosses 91a of the first connector housing 91 slide in the cam grooves 95b in the sliders 95 respectively, frictional resistance becomes larger during the connection. It has been a drawback that the first and the second connector housings 91, 92 cannot be connected with the low insertion force due to the frictional resistance. In other words, an effect of the low insertion force cannot be obtained as expected.
In view of the above described problems, an object of the invention is to provide a coupling structure of connectors in which number of components can be reduced, a first and a second connectors can be down-sized, and frictional resistance during connection can be decreased.